Misfits Boxing 22 star Luke Rockhold was encouraged to retire by UFC boss Dana White six years before his upcoming debut within the ring.
Rockhold’s latest combat sports enterprise comes on August 30, as the previous UFC and Strikeforce champion makes his first appearance in pro boxing.
The profession move comes three years on from a short-lived retirement after UFC 278, where Rockhold was beaten by Paulo Costa in his return to motion.
Had White had his way, though, the Californian star would have hung up the gloves three years before his last Octagon outing — and 6 years before his arrival within the crossover boxing realm.
Dana White told Luke Rockhold to give attention to his second ‘profession’ after brutal Jan Blachowicz KO
Before a hard-fought exit from the UFC that had fans on their feet in Salt Lake City, Rockhold initially looked set for a much worse final page in his MMA book.
Three years before his comeback, the 40-year-old had a devastating night on the office in Las Vegas. On the undercard of Jon Jones’ title defense against Thiago Santos at UFC 239, Rockhold made his light heavyweight debut.
Against then-future champion Jan Blachowicz, the Santa Cruz native had hoped to secure a fast path to the title and two-division glory. As an alternative, though, he was left dazed on the canvas after being brutally knocked out with a left hook early in round two.
The result marked Rockhold’s third loss in 4 fights and left him with the second broken jaw of his profession. The UFC CEO, for one, had seen enough.
“I feel Luke Rockhold should speak about hanging it up,” Dana White said on the UFC 239 post-fight press conference.
“He broke his jaw tonight. That’s his second broken jaw, he’s been knocked out viciously a couple of times here, his shin is all banged up, he needed to have skin grafts and all types of stuff.
“He’s had a superb profession,” White continued. “He’s been an important fighter. I’d prefer to see him hang it up.”
White further encouraged Rockhold’s exit from fighting by referencing the modeling work he had been doing.
“He’s got one other profession, he’s got a second profession. Everyone’s a (expletive) model, right? ‘I’m a model, I’m a model.’ That guy’s actually really modeling for Ralph Lauren. So, good for him.”
Luke Rockhold continues to be fighting six years after Dana White’s retirement plea
Rockhold’s ‘retirement’ announcement at UFC 278 turned out to be removed from his last motion in combat sports.
The previous Strikeforce and UFC champ quickly committed to a comeback, signing with the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship in 2023. His debut in bare-knuckle boxing didn’t go to plan, with Rockhold suffering a brutal loss to Mike Perry at BKFC 41.
Having retired during that fight after having his teeth broken, the American has no plans to return to that realm of combat. As an alternative, he bounced back with a victory within the Karate Combat Pit last 12 months, where Rockhold finished David Schilling via TKO to record his first win since 2017.
The American’s focus is now on one more enterprise, as he gears as much as debut in pro boxing opposite fellow former UFC star Darren Till at Misfits Boxing 22 this Saturday.